Chapter 12: Like

Lu Canran wondered if she had forgotten how to read.

Words flooded in like a torrential July downpour. Lu Canran was the unprepared pedestrian caught in the storm, without an umbrella, without a raincoat. She sat stiffly in her chair, round eyes wide with shock.

…Wait a second.

Wait…

Wait!

She needed to calm down.

Aaahhh—

But how was she supposed to calm down?! She even wanted to confess to Liang Yuanzheng right now and say, I like you too! You’re so handsome and amazing! Let’s be boyfriend and girlfriend, starting now! From now on, we can be in love with each other, and you can even call me by my nickname, Ranran!

“Lu Canran?”

The bullet screen above Liang Yuanzheng’s head disappeared.

Lu Canran grew anxious. “Don’t talk yet.”

—She hadn’t finished reading.

Lu Canran silently prayed that those powerful words would appear again. However, Liang Yuanzheng misread her intention—she looked nervous, her lips were dry, her expression tense and uneasy, unclear and uncertain.

Liang Yuanzheng felt it was necessary to clarify things with her.

“Canran,” Liang Yuanzheng set down his pen, “this morning, I might’ve sounded a bit harsh. Sometimes after a night shift, I’m not very good at talking.”

Lu Canran said, “I could tell.”

Just now, there was already such a huge block above your head, and you still wouldn’t open your mouth. QWQ

It’s not that you’re bad at talking, Liang Yuanzheng, it’s that you just won’t speak. Why won’t you say it?

If you’d just say a single word, just one, then from this moment on we could be in love with each other, sweet and happy together.

But Liang Yuanzheng didn’t say anything. He quietly went back to writing medical records. The next patient and Director Xue entered one after the other. Lu Canran no longer had a reasonable excuse to stay. She could only look at Liang Yuanzheng longingly as she slowly stepped back, one step at a time, until she bumped into the door.

Only then did she see a new bullet screen appear above Liang Yuanzheng’s head.

[Endure—]

Director Xue said, “Hey, Yuanzheng, was it you who performed CPR on Bed 8’s patient at four thirty today?”

When Liang Yuanzheng looked up, the bullet screen above his head disappeared. “Yes.”

Lu Canran suddenly understood.

—This whole time, it wasn’t that she couldn’t see Liang Yuanzheng’s bullet screen. It was that his… his bullet screen was delayed!

Only by facing him directly for a while would it appear. And during that time, there couldn’t be any interruptions.

“What is it, young lady?” Director Xue looked at Lu Canran. “Is there something else?”

Liang Yuanzheng was looking at her too.

Lu Canran said it was nothing, leaving with both regret and delight, a bundle of contradictions.

—No matter what, she now knew that Liang Yuanzheng liked her. And not just a little, he liked her so, so much!

She returned to the dorm full of joy, ignoring the entire room filled with chattering bullet screens on the bed curtains, ceiling light, wardrobe, and even the broom. She climbed into bed and collapsed with a thud.

Zhu Huaxin, who was in the middle of gaming, was startled and stuck her head out. “What happened?”

Lu Canran pressed both hands to her chest. “I’m about to fall in love.”

Zhu Huaxin got excited. “Liang Yuanzheng confessed to you?”

Lu Canran looked at her with heart-shaped eyes. “You’re about to fall in love too.”

Zhu Huaxin said, “Alright, clearly not a confession. Another one’s gone crazy.”

She was about to go back to her game when Lu Canran grabbed her wrist. “Xinxin, Xinxin, my dearest Xinxin.”

Zhu Huaxin looked horrified. “What are you doing?”

“My love guru, the best Xinxin in the whole world,” Lu Canran rolled over, cupping Zhu Huaxin’s cheeks with both hands and said sweetly, “Teach me how to flirt.”

Zhu Huaxin: “Huh?”

“I need to be bolder. I already missed one for two years, I can’t miss a second,” Lu Canran said. “I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to have a secret crush anymore. I want to date Liang Yuanzheng, have a sweet, sweet campus romance.”

Zhu Huaxin said, “…How do I put this, sweetheart. With how he works those hospital shifts, the two of you are going to have a hard time having a campus romance. And it won’t be that sweet either.”

Lu Canran didn’t care.

She was going to charge forward boldly!!!

In psychology, there’s a concept called the “mushroom effect.” It refers to the idea that mushrooms growing in dark corners, away from observation and attention, receive no sunlight and no care. They grow quietly, only drawing notice once they reach a certain height—

Just like the trials before breaking out of one’s shell and spreading wings, a silent accumulation of inner strength in unfavorable conditions.

Lu Canran was ready to go for it—

But before charging ahead, she first needed to pass tomorrow morning’s elective course exam.

As everyone knows, among all the university courses, there are always some that are considered “easy courses.” These “easy courses” either allow open-book exams or permit bringing reference materials within certain limits.

This time, the elective course allowed students to bring one A4 sheet as reference.

The afternoon before the exam, even Xu Qiao returned from the library to join her roommates in figuring out how to shrink all the key content onto both sides of the A4 sheet. If the font was too small, it would blur and become unreadable; if it was too large, it would take up too much space. The professor had provided so many PowerPoint slides—it was impossible to fit everything—so it really tested their ability to extract the essential points.

Lu Canran’s special ability once again came in handy. As long as she glanced quickly over all the slides, the bullet screen would automatically summarize the key points. All she had to do was follow the bullet screen’s cues to copy and paste them. There was no need to read the PowerPoints in detail. What would normally take four people several hours to complete, she finished alone in just one hour.

Zhu Huaxin beamed with pride. “This is the power of love!”

When the group went to the campus supermarket’s print shop to make copies, Lu Canran only asked for three extra copies.

“I’ve already memorized everything,” Lu Canran said. “Tomorrow, I won’t bring any reference materials.”

Zhu Huaxin was shocked. “Is this the power of being love-brained?”

Qin Bingshuang showed concern. “Babe, maybe we should go back to the hospital? What if you’re still stuck in a hallucination?”

Xu Qiao was amazed. “Respect.”

Lu Canran: “……”

Despite her bold declaration, Lu Canran still brought the A4 sheet with her. Zhu Huaxin simply wouldn’t be at ease if she didn’t. As everyone knows, unless you’re aiming for awards, university is all about passing—failures break hearts. Make-up exams don’t count your regular scores, and they’re even harder to pass.

What Lu Canran didn’t expect was that one of the two proctors for this exam was actually Liang Yuanzheng.

Tall and slender, wearing a gray T-shirt and black track pants, he was bowing his head, organizing the scratch paper to be handed out later. His side profile was quiet and handsome, his fingers long and elegant.

Liang Yuanzheng was also surprised.

Proctoring was just a regular part-time job for him. A single exam lasted around 100 minutes and paid four hundred yuan—a decent income. If the timing worked out, he would take on proctoring assignments. He had done it about ten times already, mostly for exams within his own college, but this was the first time he had encountered Lu Canran.

He didn’t say anything, nor did he look at Lu Canran. He calmly distributed the test papers and confiscated a few students’ extra, unauthorized materials. He paid special attention to Lu Canran and her three inseparable roommates. Only after confirming that the four of them hadn’t smuggled in any additional references did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

A University had always taken a strict stance on cheating. If caught with cheat sheets or peeking at another student’s paper—standard forms of cheating—the score for that exam would be recorded as zero. If technology like Bluetooth earpieces, phones, or smartwatches was involved, the student could be expelled outright. Before the exam began, the professor had reminded Liang Yuanzheng: if he caught a student cheating, he could step in and stop them. If the student refused and insisted on continuing, the matter should be handed over to the designated disciplinary proctoring team for further action.

Fortunately, Lu Canran and her friends followed the spacing rules in the exam hall. Aside from Zhu Huaxin noisily flipping her A4 sheet covered in knowledge points back and forth, the rest were relatively quiet.

Lu Canran was the quietest of them all.

From the moment she saw the test paper clearly, all the answers floated before her eyes in the form of translucent bullet screens. Without hesitation, she gripped her pen and began writing swiftly, brush-brush-brush, thinking only about finishing quickly so she could hurry and enjoy watching Liang Yuanzheng’s bullet screens. She couldn’t wait to see more.

Lu Canran wrote furiously in the back row, her pen scratching loudly. The students in front of her were full of envy and resentment—

That reference sheet is amazing… If only I’d asked for a digital copy to print too, wuwu.

Liang Yuanzheng walked slowly through the exam hall, noticing Lu Canran writing with fierce focus. As he passed by her desk, he paused for a moment.

Head buried in her (copied) writing, Lu Canran caught sight of his black track pants and matching sneakers from the corner of her eye. She immediately sat up straight, squared her shoulders, and proudly thought, Look more, Senior. See how amazing I am. Take a good look at this top student—maybe you’ll like me even more—

But those black sneakers slowly moved away.

Lu Canran finished the exam in twenty minutes, but couldn’t bring herself to raise her hand and turn it in. She was reluctant to give up the time spent in the same room with Liang Yuanzheng and was still hoping to catch a glimpse of his bullet screen. However, the other proctor seemed a bit too bored—every time a tip of Liang Yuanzheng’s bullet screen started to appear, he would lean over and whisper a few words to him.

By the end of the exam, Lu Canran’s only takeaway was this: Liang Yuanzheng’s bullet screen had a one-minute delay.

Only when they were face-to-face, and in silence for a full minute, would his bullet screen appear.

After the others turned in their papers and left one by one, Lu Canran waited just outside the hallway, racking her brain for a reason to invite Liang Yuanzheng to a meal.

To create a chance to be alone with him, her “love coaches” had long since submitted their papers and left. She stood alone in the corridor, watching the bright sunlight slowly shift across the ground to her feet.

Inside the classroom, the two proctors finished collecting the test papers. The moment Liang Yuanzheng stepped out of the classroom, he saw her and paused slightly. “Canran.”

Standing for too long had tired her out, so Lu Canran crouched at the corner of the wall. The sun had turned her cheeks bright red, making her look like a little mushroom. The moment she saw him, she scrambled to her feet in a panic.

Liang Yuanzheng asked, “Was there something wrong with the exam just now—”

“No problem,” Lu Canran said quickly. “I was waiting for you.”

The other proctor walked off with the sealed file bag. When he saw Lu Canran’s flushed face and Liang Yuanzheng beside her, he gave them a knowing look and left with a smile.

It was now 12:07 p.m. In the teaching building, the long corridor was occupied by only two people—Lu Canran and Liang Yuanzheng.

“What is it?” Liang Yuanzheng looked at her flushed face, and instinctively thought of her previous food poisoning. “Are you feeling unwell?”

Lu Canran pointed at her head. “Here.”

Liang Yuanzheng asked, “Are you having hallucinations again?”

“No,” Lu Canran shook her head, her palms slick with sweat. “It might just be from overthinking.”

She didn’t look into Liang Yuanzheng’s eyes—only at the space above his head. People say eye contact is a kiss without desire, but for Lu Canran at this moment, meeting his gaze felt like forcefully kissing him.

It made her incredibly shy.

“I saw you finished really quickly,” Liang Yuanzheng said. “I thought the exam was a breeze for you.”

This kind of subtle praise made Lu Canran both happy and proud.

She said, “The exam was no big deal. It’s something else.”

Liang Yuanzheng asked, “What is it?”

Lu Canran finally looked into his eyes. This time, she wasn’t so nervous that she stuttered. “I really want to treat you to a meal, but I can’t find a good reason. Thinking of one gave me such a headache.”